How to use a crisis manual

The Crisis Manual from Loop PR

While many companies continually assess and endeavour to mitigate business risks, every company needs to have in place robust procedures and systems for dealing with a crisis: that is, any situation which threatens the integrity or reputation of the business where significant media coverage or interest is likely.

Nothing can adequately prepare staff for the trauma and upheaval of a major company incident, particularly where serious injury or loss of life are involved. While such incidents are extremely rare, we must never lose sight of the fact that no company is immune to the possibility of a major incident or accident.

Crisis management has two elements:

- dealing with the immediate situation where saving life, protecting property, personal security and minimising escalation will be the principal priorities; and
- dealing with the medium to longer term where business continuity, restoring public and customer confidence and limitation of the financial consequences will be key considerations.

Communication is a vital part of successful crisis management. Often this comes from a crisis manual. A crisis manual outlines the basic policies and procedures of crisis communication which must be followed by all management staff in the event of a major incident involving the company is essential. Such a manual is only useful if:

1. It is essential that this manual is read regularly and people are made aware of the various roles they may be called upon to perform.

2. It is also essential that company mobiles (and certainly those of senior management) are kept on at all times - including weekends and evenings.

3. One copy of this manual should be kept at home, and one in the office.

4. An online copy of this manual should be placed on the intranet.

5. This manual needs to be reviewed every year and reprinted as appropriate.

Come back later in the week for Loop PR’s article on the ‘Role of Senior Management in Crisis Communications’. Alternatively sign up for our RSS feed here subscribing to our email updates on the right, or following Loop PR’s Paul on Twitter

Also, don’t miss our previous article on ‘How to Save Brand Reputation Through a Crisis’

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